PEABODY PRODUCED DOCUMENTARY “THE MAKING OF ‘KNOW HIV/AIDS FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS: PROTECT YOURSELF CAMPAIGN’” NOW AVAILABLE

Written by Eric Holder, University of Georgia, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, Public Relations department head, the Peabody Awards

ATHENS, Ga. — The University of Georgia’s Peabody Awards program is offering radio and television news directors and medical communicators an instructional documentary aimed at encouraging the creation of more and better health and medical content for electronic media.
The award-winning documentary, “The Making of ‘Know HIV/AIDS Fight for Your Rights: Protect Yourself Campaign’” is being offered free of charge through the Peabody Awards office, housed in UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The documentary features interviews with Summer Redstone, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, Viacom Inc. and Matt James, senior vice president, Kaiser Family Foundation. Members of the creative teams from CBS, UPN and MTV and other organizations explain their strategies and approaches to health communication in entertainment, news, and documentary formats.

“Researchers, writers and producers all explain the difficult tasks of making complex science and health issues accessible to a large audience,” noted Horace Newcomb, director of the Peabody Awards program. “We were delighted to present the Peabody/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Excellence in Health and Medical Programming to this outstanding campaign.”

The Peabody/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award was co-sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted to improving health and health care.

“The documentary explores the initiative’s origin, its partnerships, and creative processes and explains how much of the material created by Viacom entities can be used rights free in local communities and other contexts,” said Noel Holston, project manager. “It also examines how the campaigns themselves are models for local and regional public service/outreach programs.”

The documentary will be housed in the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the UGA Library. The collection is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most respected moving-image archives. For more information about the Peabody Archive or the Peabody Awards, visit www.peabody.uga.edu.

To receive a free copy of “The Making of ‘Know HIV/AIDS Fight for Your Rights: Protect Yourself Campaign,’” contact the Peabody Awards Office at (706) 542-3787 or email: Peabody@uga.edu.

The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is celebrating its 90th anniversary in 2005. It provides seven undergraduate majors including advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and telecommunication arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, considered the electronic broadcasting industry’s most prestigious prize. For more information, visit www.grady.uga.edu.

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